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New car brings back old school racing

If the Sprint Unlimited and Thursday's duels are any indication, it looks like NASCAR racing has returned to what it was almost a decade ago. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

If NASCAR fans enjoyed the way racing was eight or nine years ago they are in luck.

Watching the Sprint Unlimited and the Budweiser Duels confirms that the Gen 6 cars have brought back old school-racing.

After winning the second of the duels Kyle Busch's crew chief, Dave Rogers, said in the media center, “yeah, I sit back here and listen. To me, it sounds like NASCAR gave our fans what they wanted, right? Our fans voted they didn't want bump-drafts, two-car tandems, cars to pass. It looks like NASCAR did a great job of working with the manufacturers to give us car like that.”

And before readers start sending comments that the racing was boring consider a number of factors. First and foremost there is a supply problem of spare parts. No points are scored for any of these races. Smaller fields in Unlimited and Duels made drafting less effective.

Busch explained “what you saw…was some cars single filed out, separated themselves from another pack, from another pack. You saw some separation going on.”

Then, looking to Sunday he said “so with more cars, you'll see…a bigger good pack, a bigger middle pack. Once handling comes into play you'll see separation, I don't know how big that pack is going to be.”

One thing not seen on older cars or "Car of Tomorrow" cars was the “stalling effect.” Gregg Biffle and Juan Pablo Montoya, who finished second and third respectively in the first Duel, both said that once a driver pulled up on another's bumper the car seemed to stop.

That's an interesting phenomenon in a race car recording speeds of over 190 mph.

Busch explained it as “it's the air off the windshield dumping on the rear spoiler.” It's due he said to a different windshield which “shoots it (the air) right onto your neighbor's car.” Then he joked “if you want to get rid of that, take the rear spoiler off of that. I think all of drivers would be crying to NASCAR to give the spoiler back.”

Kevin Harvick, 37-years-old and victor in the Unlimited and Duel No.1, said “like I told you the other night it's just like it was 10 years ago. It's the same way we used to race with the old-style cars, no roof fins, nothing on top of them. It's the old style race. Handling even is coming into effect as we've seen in practice and the race today.

I know Montoya wasn't around for that and Biffle might not have been. But it's just like that the same style of racing.”

So race fans if you like old-style racing you are in luck because it's back.

And if you didn't like today's Duels just be careful for what you wished for.